


Move With Me

by joonfired



Series: Mandorin [3]
Category: The Mandalorian (LadyIrina AU), The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Awkward Crush, Corin knows he's a dumbass, Dancing Lessons, Drabble Sequence, First Dance, M/M, Mandalorian Culture, No Plot, Oblivious Pining, Prompt Fic, Teaching, The Mandalorian is used to explaining things, Touching, because they're idiots in love, just fluff, the Star Wars version of Tai Chi, which I totally make up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-24 15:54:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21800512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joonfired/pseuds/joonfired
Summary: The Mandalorian teaches Corin a dance
Relationships: Corin the Stormtrooper (Rescue and Regret)/The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Series: Mandorin [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1569676
Comments: 53
Kudos: 416





	Move With Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyIrina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyIrina/gifts), [IMixDangerousChemicals](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IMixDangerousChemicals/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Rescue and Regret](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21648874) by [LadyIrina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyIrina/pseuds/LadyIrina). 
  * Inspired by [Family and Home](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21758992) by [LadyIrina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyIrina/pseuds/LadyIrina). 



> No it ain't a "if you know what I mean" dance  
> Minds outta the gutters lol
> 
> someone mentioned warriors dance well  
> and I got an idea that wouldn't go away

Corin didn’t mean to snoop. He didn’t mean to trail after the Mandalorian like a lovesick moof. He just wanted something to eat.

But he discovered the Mandalorian in an empty space of the cargo hold, balanced on one foot with one knee drawn up. His arms were over his head in what looked like either a fighting stance or an artistic pose, both options suiting him well. He shifted forward, lowering the lifted foot and sinking low with feline grace, his arms lowering smoothly to his sides and gloved fingers outstretched.

He moved so fluidly and beautifully that Corin could not help but stare.

Which of course, staring made him stupid and being stupid got him caught.

“What are you doing here?” the Mandalorian asked, shifting from his slow grace to defensive stiffness.

“Uhhhh I was hungry?” Corin ventured.

The Mandalorian didn’t reply, didn’t move . . . but Corin knew this to be a skeptical silence.

“Go ahead, you can ask,” the Mandalorian sighed with the weight of one often asked questions about his behavior. 

“Heh?”

Corin didn’t like how he always felt like an idiot around the beskar-plated man. He didn’t like how his mind dissolved into small words and ridiculous ignorance, even on things he knew by heart!

“It’s called Kam-li,” the Mandalorian said, transitioning into fluid movements once more. “It helps with focus and movement.”

“Oh, so it’s a kata,” Corin said, nodding.

“No,” the Mandalorian sounded awkward for some reason. “It’s a . . . dance.”

“Oh,” Corin said, not really understanding it . . . until, “ _ oh _ .”

Well, that explained the awkward tone from him.

“It doesn’t look too hard to pick up,” Corin quipped, bending his knees and stretching his arms out. He grinned at the Mandalorian as he rolled forward on the balls of his feet. “Just slide your muscles into the forms instead of snapping them . . . like so!”

He kicked his knee out perhaps a bit more forcefully than he was trying to do, landing harder. He completely lacked the easy flow of the Mandalorian’s movements, instead just copying the fighting forms he’d trained in for so many years as a stormtrooper.

Elbow up hard to a throat. Fist out like a hammer. Stomp forward and yell. Raise your blaster and fire.

“Here,” the Mandalorian walked forward, lifting a hand to Corin’s shoulder. “It’s more like this.”

He adjusted his body with quick, professional touches: a tap to lift his forearm here and a nudge to his knee there. And then he sank into the same pose next to him, helmet tipping towards him as he inspected their almost-mirrored positions.

“And then you lean forward like a wind is pushing you,” the Mandalorian explained, swaying forward as his foot slid out against the metal floor in support. “Kam-li isn’t about forced positions, but instead the natural movement of your body.”

Corin was trying to mimic him, but utterly failing. He wobbled and gasped a little when he thought for a moment he was going to fall flat on his face. He caught himself with a desperate grip to the Mandalorian’s arm, and was then surprised with how strong the fragile seeming movements made the man.

“Just . . . here,” the Mandalorian muttered, standing behind Corin and sliding his hands palm-up under Corin’s forearms. His gloved fingers gently held Corin’s wrists, his beskar chestplate resting between his shoulder blades. “Like this.”

He began to use his body to direct Corin in the proper movements, but Corin wasn’t really paying attention to the dance. He was focused on the press of armored thighs against his legs and arms wrapped around his shoulders, the rough material of gloves feeling the too-fast pulse in his wrists.

“Got it?” the Mandalorian asked.

“Uhhh yes?”

“I don’t think so.” The Mandalorian slid his hand down to Corin’s hip, tapping the joint forward with the heel of his palm. “You need to be more flexible here.”

“Are  _ you _ flexible there?” Corin shot back, maddened by the small touches and he didn’t know why.

“Yes,” the Mandalorian replied calmly. “I’m very flexible.”

Corin muttered darkly under his breath as he rolled his hips a little in an attempt to loosen them . . . which accidentally caused his rear to brush over a part of the Mandalorian behind him. The fingers still resting on his hip tightened fractionally before the Mandalorian cleared his throat.

“All right,” he said. “Let’s try it again.”

“This doesn’t feel like dancing,” Corin mumbled as they began to sway forward together again.

But then, suddenly it did feel like dancing.

The Mandalorian guided him with a shoulder to shoulder, one hand on his wrist and the other directing Corin’s waist by his touch on his hip. They slid their foot out together, the toe of the Mandalorian’s boot just behind the heel of Corin’s. And as they bent and shifted together, and the fluidity of the movements began to soak into Corin’s limbs, drawing a smile to his features.

And then the Mandalorian changed the movements slightly, his hand moving up Corin’s arm to his shoulder while the hand on Corin’s hip moved slightly up and around his ribs. The graceful shifting of the clear practice forms now took on a definite artistic slant, ending with Corin breathlessly spun and dipped to a stop.

“That’s the dancing part of it,” the Mandalorian said, looking down into his stunned features.

“Yeah, I got that now,” Corin managed, wondering how long he was going to be held like this.

But more than a small part of him liked it. He liked the way the movements were both a partnership and yet led by the guidance of the Mandalorian. He liked the flowing transitions and how it made his muscles feel warm and stretched, although his back was beginning to complain a little about the angle.

The Mandalorian huffed in a way that sounded like laughter as he lifted Corin back up to a standing position, the two of them now facing each other.

“That was a Kam-li-dan,” he said quietly.

He didn’t explain how it was different.

Corin didn’t want to know.

Corin wanted to know.

“Kam-li for fighting and dan for  _ dancing _ ?” he asked.

“Yeah, something like that,” was the reply. And then, “If you want, I can teach more another time. Might help you in your next fight.”

“I’m a good fighter!” Corin protested, but the Mandalorian was already going back for the cockpit ladder.

“Not good enough.”

“Hey . . .” Corin couldn’t exactly deny that. “Well, fine. One day I’ll be good enough for you.”

The Mandalorian didn’t reply, just sat back down in the pilot chair and began checking the position charts. But his posture was almost . . . relaxed? Happy? Expectant?

Or Corin was reading too much into hidden gestures and the Mandalorian was actually regretting everything and thought him the most useless person in a fight ever.

“Why don’t you go check on the kid?” the Mandalorian said. “We’re going to jump into hyperspace soon and I don’t want him waking up with his head slammed against the wall.”

**Author's Note:**

> the only true dance experience I have is ballet  
> so that's reflected a lot in here  
> cause they say write what you know  
> but I also totally made up so much stuff sooooo  
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> also catch me Photoshopping Matt Bomer's head onto a stormtrooper body and sticking him next to Mando lol  
> haven't done it yet but I'm gonna

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, they danced by the light of the moon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21939490) by [babyyodavevo (cantina)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cantina/pseuds/babyyodavevo)




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